General Secretary of the People’s Progressive Party, Clement Rohee on Monday declared that the party remains commitment and firmly in support of President Donald Ramotar. His statement came in response to questions about a Guyana Chronicle front page story that claimed that a number of polls have indicated that former President Bharrat Jagdeo is the best candidate to lead the PPP into any upcoming elections.
Mr. Rohee said the former President has always indicated that he is not interested in serving a third term. The Laws of Guyana also prevents him from serving a third term.
Questioned at his Monday morning press conference about whether President Ramotar would be supported to lead the party into any snap elections, Mr. Rohee asked “Why Not?”
The General Secretary who also serves as Minister of Home Affairs said when it comes to President Ramotar, “at this point in time, I think he is doing a pretty good job and has represented the country well overseas and domestically as well. So, the PPP stands full square behind President Ramotar”.
Asked by News Source if the party would consider taking amendments to the National Assembly that could possibly change the laws preventing a third term, Mr. Rohee said “I think I heard Mr. Jagdeo sometime ago say he is not interested”.
The story pushing a possible third term for the former President was first carried in the Guyana Times Newspapers which is owned by Mr. Jagdeo’s best friend, Dr. Bobby Ramroop. The PPP General Secretary made it clear that “our party policy is not determined by what best friends say. Best friends can say anything, that’s quite okay but I think President Jagdeo sometime ago said he is not interested.
The Jagdeo Best Candidate for the PPP story has landed a number of Editors at the state-owned Guyana Chronicle in hot water. The report was not written by any journalist attached to the Chronicle but was reportedly sent to the newspaper by a Senior Information Liaison Officer attached to the Office of the President.
The report quoted “secret polls” allegedly conducted by the Opposition parties as projecting that Mr. Jagdeo would be the best candidate to lead the PPP into elections. The Opposition parties have denied ever conducting any such poll.
On Monday, the PPP General Secretary also denied any knowledge of any such polls being conducted by anyone to determine who should lead the PPP into elections.
Rohee said “I don’t know about any poll”. He repeated that line several times as he explained that the last time his party conducted an exercise to determine its Presidential Candidate was in the run up to the 2011 elections.
Past General Secretaries of the PPP have found themselves being elevated to lead the party into national elections. When asked if would like that trend to continue and seek the Presidential Candidate position for future elections, Mr. Rohee smiled and said “read my lips”.
He said nothing else after that statement.
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